Primitive tools, what do I look for?

[KC]

Just looks like the worn cross grains of the wood that have been rasped to me...in turn looks like a woven basket sorta'!

[waywardangler]

It does not look like a rasp mark to me.  It looks like the design was pressed/stamped into the wood on purpose.  I enlarged it and then looked at it at 200% to see the design better.  It was probably done to make the end grain, which is usually rough, more appealing to the eye.  A nice detail that could link this piece to other pieces by the same maker, if one is lucky enough to find some.

[Oceans64]

I wasn't around when this was first posted so I'll say it now.... WOW - This is lovely!

It looks like a rasp was was whacked with a hammer to leave an impression on those ends.  The fact that someone took the time to decorate them seems someone really cared about this piece when it was being made.  But I know very little...

Joe - nice to hear your opinion about Folk Art.  My G-Pa who was a young man during the Depression painted scenes on everything and would re purpose them them throughout the house.  I never appreciated (or really thought about) why he did this until I was much older.  We are such a throw away society these days and that's a concept I'm sure he would struggle with if still alive.  It does give you an Ah-Ha moment when thinking about the origins of folk art.

Wayward...  we were posting at the same time   

[waywardangler]

Not a rasp.  A whacked rasp would leave deeper triangular impressions where the teeth would indent.  The impressions on the end grain on this are flat with raised cross bars.

I could whack some end grain with a large rasp and post a pic but I couldn't impress this design with anything I have.  On the tool, the rectangular impressions would be raised and the cross bars would be indented.  I am not sure what would make that.

[cogar]

It looks to me like they were made with one (1) good whack of a hammer.

So maybe it was a special tool made to "blossom out" (expand) the end grain of pegs and tenons so that they would not pull back out or come apart ...... because of shrinkage from drying out.

[hosman321]

Yeah, I always thought they were made with one good whack of a tool too. I just didn't know if they were added to look pretty or had an actual purpose. But somehow they don't seem very sharp like a tool hit the wood real good, they do seem more like they were pressed in. I can take different pics if they will help.

I have always thought it would be amazing to find out who made it and for whom but I know the chances of that are slim to none. I'd have to find another like it online and I haven't been able to yet. There are some smaller dated ones but nothing that mention initials or is the same style.
How cool would this be to go with it?


 http://www.auctionflex.com/showlot.ap?co=2887&weid=11156&weiid=3908016&mindate=19900101&maxdate=20501231&lso=lotnumasc&pagenum=4&action=PreviousLotInAuction&lang=En

[hosman321]

And wayward, you are the tool man! Do you know the name of the tool that was used to make the "flower" type marks that surround the FID? That'd be cool to find on ebay and put with it. Thanks!

[waywardangler]

OK, you got me, hosman.  I just got home from Friday night fish and had a few Spotted Cows (Wisconsin beer) and I do not know what FID is.  What is FID?

[hosman321]

lol wayward. FID are the carved initials that I found in the last picture I posted. Some sort of round shaped tool was used to make the markings on the right hand side of the picture. Just curious what the tool might be so I can find one.

[waywardangler]

   OK, I see them now.  They are very faint.  I can't tell how big or small they are but it would be my guess they were made with the head of rosehead nails.

It is tough to get a good pic of the nail head but here is another copper one by itself showing the head only.  (copper roseheads were used by boatbuilders)

[waywardangler]

The main thing to remember is these decorations were made by whatever the woodworker had on hand that would produce a nice effect on the wood.  And now that I think of it, the head of a meat tenderizer hammer might produce the other pattern on the end grain parts.

[hosman321]

I never even thought about them being from nails, I think you're right about that. Same pattern and size. Thanks for figuring that one out.